Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigns

**Janet Jalil** (0:00)
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janet Jalil at 15 Hours GMT on Monday the 22nd of June. These are our main stories. The British Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigned just two years after his landslide election victory. Europe suffers another record heat wave with temperatures forecast to go well over 40 degrees Celsius. The number of Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo passes 1,000.
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For the fourth time in four years, a British Prime Minister has announced their resignation while standing at a lectern in front of No. 10 Downing Street. Nearly two years after his landslide election victory, Keir Starmer, having repeatedly said he would not stand down, announced that he would be going after all, following a series of scandals and blunders that have seen his popularity plummet. He said he accepted that he had lost the trust of the governing Labour Party.

**Keir Starmer** (1:28)
Every decision I have taken has been about putting the country I love first. That is why I will resign as leader of the Labour Party. I have spoken to His Majesty the King this morning to inform him of my decision. I will ask the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party to set out a timetable with nominations opening on the 9th of July and completed by the summer recess.
In the case of a contest, this will ensure a new leader is in place before Parliament returns in September. I will remain in post as Prime Minister until the contest is complete. When I leave the biggest job in the country, I shall spend more time on the most important job.
Being the best husband I can, to my fantastic wife, Fig, who has been a rock by my side through good times and bad. And being the best dad I can, to my beautiful children, who are my pride and my joy. Thank you very much.

**Janet Jalil** (2:36)
Keir Starmer, the British Prime Minister, announcing his resignation. Well, the favourite to succeed him, Andy Burnham, the former Mayor of Manchester, who has just been re-elected as a member of parliament, confirmed that he would be running for the top job. And he has been given a boost by another major contender, the former Health Minister, Wes Treeting, who said he would be backing Mr Burnham to become Prime Minister.
This means that Britain could have its seventh Prime Minister in a decade as soon as next month. I asked our political correspondent, Rob Watson, why Mr Starmer felt compelled to go now.

**Rob Watson** (3:12)
Well, he felt compelled to go and he certainly didn't want to go. That's for sure. He thought that he was doing a good job. That actually what comes next won't necessarily be any better. But essentially, he had lost the support of the governing Labour Party. And if you don't have the numbers in Parliament, you can't really carry on governing. And essentially, he lost that support because he'd become so fantastically unpopular with the voters and therefore, Labour MPs thought that he was a threat to the very existence of their party.

**Janet Jalil** (3:41)
Yes, we think like the unforced error of appointing Peter Mandelson as British ambassador to the US. There has been a mixed reaction, however, to Mr. Starmer going with some supporters feeling he should have been given more time to fulfil his mandate. Let's get a flavour of the public reaction.

**SPEAKER_5** (3:58)
I think it's just shameful that he was handed out really. And I think that the British public is too swayed by the fact that he wasn't a born leader. I'm just so upset. I've been crying in bed because I'm just so upset. Yeah, brilliant news. Fabulous. All my family, friends, everyone, just being the people in the village, we're all really happy that he's gone.

**Andrea Mitchell** (4:19)
We will look back on this in years to come as a real mistake.

**SPEAKER_5** (4:22)
We need a general election. This country needs a general election.

**Janet Jalil** (4:26)
And picking up on that last point, Rob, that is a problem for Mr. Starmer's successor. They won't have the authority of having been elected the way that Mr. Starmer was.

**Rob Watson** (4:35)
True. I'll get to that in a second, Jeanette, but it's fascinating hearing those voices. They just tell you how much of emotion, anger and turmoil there is out there amongst the voters. But to get to your question, it's true that constitutionally there doesn't need to be an election. That's not the way our system works. The next election isn't due until 2029